Any reason the slave cylinder's bleeder points down?

[Martin in Bellevue]

Is there an alternative slave cylinder that mounts up the same, with the same piston travel as the stock m30 slave, but with a bleeder up top? Why does the slave not have the bleeder on top?

[Bellicose Right Winger]

Access for bleeding is better and it doesn't need to be on top. There is an internal passage that allows high point of slave cylinder to vent trapped air even with bleeder screw on bottom.

Paul Shovestul

Is there an alternative slave cylinder that mounts up the same, with the same piston travel as the stock m30 slave, but with a bleeder up top? Why does the slave not have the bleeder on top?

[Martin in Bellevue]

Access for bleeding is better and it doesn't need to be on top. There is an internal passage that allows high point of slave cylinder to vent trapped air even with bleeder screw on bottom.

Paul Shovestul

If the bleeder was on top of the slave cylinder, I wouldn't have to remove it to gravity bleed the damned thing.

This morning, Erik & I pressure bleed his brakes & clutch circuit. As usual, the clutch pedal stayed down after the initial attempt of use after bleeding. I always end up unbolting the slave to gravity bleed it with the bleeder pointed up. I was hoping there was a simple step that I didn't know. Once under the car, a bleeder 1 inch away from where is now, wouldn't be any harder to reach when bleeding. A topside bleeder would be hella easier than unbolting the slave cylinder & remembering to not pump the pedal or pressure bleed, extracting the slave cylinder's (worker) rod.

[Kalevera]

Martin, like Paul said, there's no functional reason to have the bleed screw on top.

You shouldn't have to remove the slave to bleed it. We use a pressure bleeder and two people (one to pump the pedal and hold it, one to crack the screw open at the correct intervals). Takes practically more time to get the car up in the air than it does to bleed the thing this way. The pedal will be on the floor if there's enough air in the circuit or the bleed screw has just been opened. Totally normal -- pump it back up, hold it down, bleed it again. Pump it back up, check pedal feel, repeat as necessary.



best, whit